Child abuse survivors to get apology date, exactly five years after inquiry findings

It is now exactly five years since the biggest child abuse inquiry ever carried out in the UK published its findings — that the abuse was widespread in church, state and charity-run homes in Northern Ireland between 1922 and 1995.

On this day in 2017 the inquiry chair Sir Anthony Hart said the abuse victims should be given compensation and an official apology by the Stormont Executive.

While a redress scheme has since been established, following years of delays and a hard-fought campaign by survivors, no apology has been forthcoming.

Today, First Minister Paul Givan and Deputy First Minister Michelle O’Neill are expected to set a date for the apology, the News Letter understands.

Margaret McGuckin, a survivor of abuse in the Sisters of Nazareth orphanage, who leads the lobby group SAVIA (Survivors And Victims of Institutional Abuse), expressed sorrow for those who passed away without hearing an apology.

“It’s unfortunate that so many of our people have passed away without ever being told by the government, and the church or the religious orders that it was not your fault,” she said. “Too many have taken it to the grave, blaming themselves.”

She continued: “Too many of our people passed away too early and it was because of carrying those secrets, because they blamed themselves believing it was their fault, and they never lived long enough to hear an apology, to hear someone coming along and say ‘it wasn’t your fault, it was ours’.

“That’s all they wanted to hear — ‘we messed up, we failed you’.”

Ms McGuckin said it has now been 15 years since she began campaigning about the abuse she and others suffered as children.

“For me it has been 15 years since (BBC journalist) Chris Page did an interview with [abuse survivors] in England and it was at that point I decided I would have to do something, because up to then I blamed myself,” she said.

“It is five years today since the late Sir Anthony Hart published his findings, and it is nine years since the inquiry began.

“It should never have taken this long and still we have no apology as we speak right now.”

She added: “We’ve had to show them all along. We’ve had to push them, beg them, plead with them, and threaten legal action.”